The present invention relates to seat assemblies, and more specifically to a collapsible seat assembly that can be releasably mounted to a hitch receiver disposed on a vehicle.
Many social activities, such as sporting events, camping trips, or other outdoor activities, require individuals to drive to the location where the activity is taking place. Therefore, the individuals driving to the activity must take with them all of the items which are required for the activity, including chairs or other types of seating assemblies that are to be used outside of the vehicle. The storage and transportation of these chairs and other seat assemblies is often problematic as these items take up a large amount of room within the vehicle, leaving less room in the vehicle for the individuals and other items which also need to be taken to the activity.
In order to provide more room within the interior of the vehicle for the individuals and the items other than chairs or seat assemblies to be taken to the activity, a number of alternative seat assemblies that can be attached to the exterior of the vehicle have been designed. For example, Anderson U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,741, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses a tailgate table and chairs. The assembly is mounted directly to a trailer hitch secured to the vehicle and includes a table and a pair of chairs that are supported by the vehicle hitch. The assembly shown in the Anderson ""741 patent also allows for the chairs of the assembly to be disassembled or removed from the exterior of the vehicle for transport. However, the configuration of this assembly does not allow for easy conversion of the assembly from a use position to a storage position due to the large sizes of the individual pieces of the assembly. Furthermore, these large pieces must still be secured on or within the vehicle in order to be transported.
Therefore, it is desirable to design a hitch-mounted seat assembly that is easily movable between a storage position and a use position. The design of the seat assembly should also allow the assembly to be moved without the need for disassembling any part of the seat assembly. Further, the seat assembly should have a small profile when in the storage position, and should be capable of being moved out of the way of the tailgate or trunk of the vehicle in order to allow easy access to items contained within the vehicle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hitch-mounted seat assembly that is easily collapsible from a use position to a storage position.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a collapsible seat assembly in which the various components of the assembly can be pivoted with respect to one another in order to move the assembly from the storage position to the use position.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a seat assembly that may include various attachments releasably secured to the assembly to enhance the utility of the seat assembly.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a seat assembly that has a simple and easy to utilize construction without any parts that need to be disassembled when moving the assembly from the storage position to the use position or vice versa.
The present invention is a collapsible seat assembly that can be releasably mounted to a hitch receiver on a vehicle. The seat assembly includes a support member that is releasably and movably securable to the hitch receiver and provides support for the remainder of the seat assembly. A pair of arms are pivotally attached to opposite sides of the support member and can pivot from a vertically oriented storage position to a horizontally oriented use position. Each arm includes a support assembly pivotally secured to the arm opposite the support member. The support assemblies each include a first member pivotally secured to the arm opposite the support member and a second member pivotally secured to the first member. The first and second members of the support assemblies can be pivoted with respect to each arm and with respect to one another from a vertically oriented storage position for each member to a horizontal use position for the first member and a vertical use position for the second member.
The support assemblies also include a pair of support surfaces connected between the first members and second members of each support assembly, respectively. When the seat assembly is in the use position, the two support surfaces are respectively oriented generally horizontally and vertically to provide both a seat and backrest for individuals utilizing the seat assembly. The support surfaces may be formed of a flexible material, which enables the support surfaces to be easily collapsed from their extended, use positions to collapsed, storage positions along with the support assemblies and arms of the seat assembly.
The seat assembly also includes a support member extension pivotally secured between the arms to the support member and utilized to provide additional support beneath the horizontal support surface when the seat assembly is in the use position. The seat assembly extension is also useful in enabling a number of separate attachments to be secured to the seat assembly in either the use position or the storage position to allow the seat assembly to perform a number of additional functions other than simply providing a seating surface for individuals.